alan2525

Truly a great example of model making at it's best.

I really admire your creativity and inspired use of materials too. It all looks simple after you get to see how it's all done properly.

Like the miniature dremel lathe...great stuff! The way you look at each piece of the project as a tiny model in itself, the finished model is going to be a real joy. It really looks to be a labour of love.

The attention to detail shouts out from a mile away.

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Greyhead

The first former is made from 2 layers of 1/16th balsa glued together “cross grained”, this is a good method when some extra strength is required but it doesn’t warrant ply of even lite ply; it has a 1/64th ply facing on the cockpit side. The other notched former is from 1/8th lite ply as this is also the front fin support. The centre former is also “cross grained” balsa as half the stringers actually end at this point.



Only 2 formers are fully notched because it is very easy to slightly miss align the slots, which results in wavy stringers, not a pretty sight!

The centreline stringer initially holds everything in place. I wanted to use spruce for the stringers but none was available and the model shop didn’t have any idea when they could get any so I’ve used basswood; I don’t think it’s as resilient as spruce but needs must!



The fin rear post is only fitted temporarily; the fuselage end plates have been made oversize to hold the fin post and will be finally shaped when all the stringers are in place.

wonwinglo

Interesting that 'Balsaply' as it was called then,was in fact available from model shops back in the fifties-sixties,but production of this useful material ceased a long while ago,nothing to stop us from making our own stock,Scotch 3m spray adhesive is useful for this as it is very light.
Spruce is now a thing of the past and if you can find a supplier then cherish what he has in stock,its resiliance and springyness can never be surpassed,sometimes a word with the full size suppliers such as Slingsby Sailplanes,Kirbymoorside can bring in offcuts.
I like the early application of the sternpost to check to make sure that everything is in line,no easy task if something wants to twist out of shape.
Amazing simularity to a Tiger Moth in that last shot Grahame.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

Greyhead

The centre stringer has had rear doublers and metal brackets fitted for attaching the fin; now to cut the extra slots and fit the rest of the stringers.

A length of cotton is stretched tight between the 2 formers already notched, the intervening formers marked and the slots cut using the Dremell with a cutting disc.



The stringers are added symmetrically; long right, long left, short right, short left and so on, this helps to avoid any unwanted twists in the fuselage.



The stringers stand proud of the formers apart from the first 2½, which will be ply covered, several of the stringers will eventually be removed from this area to save weight. But for now they add vital strength and it’s easier to get things even if all the stringers start from the same point.

wonwinglo

I like the stretched cord stringer locator Grahame,reminds me of the days we used to mark chalked lines onto the sides of aircraft to paint on the registrations,you outstretched your two hands between the two points with a knot in the centre,grabbed hold of the knot with your teeth,and twang ! as the chalk left the desired impression onto the surface.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

Bunkerbarge

Even a technique to ensure the stringers are perfectly true.

Is there anything you haven't thought about Grahame?

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“Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack, Butting through the Channel in the mad March days"

Greyhead

Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and considerable experimenting with rib stitching before committing to the actual model. Unfortunately the photos I took don’t really show anything of note; white thread on natural Solatex just doesn’t show up any differences!



The first question was “do I want to stitch the fabric?” – No I don’t; it will be a fiddly, time consuming job that will add weight but won’t add significantly to the scale appearance. In fact, as I later found out, at this scale and it must be said with my lack of expertise, the rib stitching looked less like the real thing than the simulated stitching.

So, “do I need to stitch the fabric?” – Yes I do; I know many people have no trouble with under cambered wings but I’ve had the covering pull away on a glider and with a model of this complexity it’s just not worth the risk!

I first tried Barry’s idea of three stitches with the rest simulated, this is where I found out that the simulated stitches looked better, I just couldn’t hide the knots. I rejected this method because with the stitches all being in the same position it would have ended up with three rows of different looking stitches running span wise along the wings, which would have looked very obvious.

Next I tried full stitching; as I had predicted very fiddly and time consuming and it didn’t look that good.

In the end I decided to just “wrap” the thread around the ribs without any knots, each stitch fixed with a drop of cyano. I find the easiest way is use a strip of paper with the stitch spacing marked on it placed along side the rib, make a hole in the appropriate position next to the rib using a pin, then use these holes to pass the needle and thread through.


The centre section is fabric covered on the underside and sheeted to the rear spar on the top; before the sheeting is fitted it shows how I’m doing the stitching.

wonwinglo

Grahame on reflection I think you have tackled this the right and most practical way,Dave Boddington used to say if you cannot reproduce a method in model form then at least simulate it in some way in order to look convincing,as artists of the art trompf school make things look as if you can touch them by simulating three dimensional effects,so model builders can achieve realism by cheating a little,the secret is to make the eye believe that what you are looking at is in fact real looking.
To this end I think that your model will look realistic at this scale.
Duncan Hutson was the one to do rib stitching on his many Tiger Moth models,not quite sure how he did it but it certainly looked realistic.

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

Greyhead

It’s strange how size affects things; I once built a Hawker Hind, the plan had offset bell cranks that imparted differential aileron to counteract adverse yaw. I modified the plan to incorporate the scale Frise ailerons, which were designed for this problem, only to find out latter that at this size they don’t work. Luckily I’d also used individual aileron servos so it was easy to “dial in” a bit of differential, which solved the problem.

I suppose it could be explained because the model has to fly in “full sized” air but it’s more difficult to explain why something replicated as the full size just doesn’t look right at a smaller scale, such as rib stitching!

The only slight problem I have with the rib stitching is the last stitch at the trailing edge, which has to go through the wood itself because the TE wouldn’t be strong enough at scale dimensions. It’s not really needed so it might end up as a “false” stitch if it proves too difficult / boring when doing all the wing ribs!

wonwinglo

Grahame I once test flew a quarter scale Turbulent for someone,it had scale wing slots just as the full sized fixed ones,that flight was the most erratic test flight that I had done,in fact the model became almost uncontrollable and was glad to get her down on the ground.It seems that as you say sometimes things do not work in miniature,as they do normally on the full sized machine,normally as we know scale tailplane areas do not work on our models either and we need to increase the area,with slots and slats the effects can be quite alarming,the thing was this was the Precedent kit which should have ironed out the bugs,how many of these have been built and flown with these problems which were probably not understood by the builder ?
So whilst it is certainly wise to follow the designers build as regards construction ( after all they knew better than ourselves ) this does not always follow with some standard aerodynamic devices or concepts.
I once conducted practical tests with fixed leading edge slots and will elaborate on these some other time.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/